Control of foot-and-mouth disease during 2010-2011 epidemic, South Korea.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease caused by serotype O virus occurred in cattle and pigs in South Korea during November 2010-April 2011. The highest rates of case and virus detection were observed 44 days after the first case was detected. Detection rates declined rapidly after culling and completion of a national vaccination program.

Epidemiological Characteristics of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the Republic of Korea, 2014-2019.

This study describes the epidemiological characteristics of six epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the Republic of Korea between 2014 and 2019. A total of 223 outbreaks had been confirmed in 40 municipalities across nine provinces. Most farms with FMD (194, 87%) were located in three densely populated livestock areas (Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeonggi-do, and Chungcheongbuk-do). More cases of FMD were found in farms with more than 1,000 pigs or 50 cattle (risk ratios = 1.27 for pigs; 9.46 for Korean native cattle) and fattening pigs. In farms affected by FMD, the proportion of animals with vaccine antibodies was low (5%-50% for Korean native beef cattle farms with FMD in 2017 vs. 97.5% in the surveillance in 2016). Effective control of FMD can be achieved through strict biosecurity measures, proper vaccination, regionalized management, and instilling awareness of FMD prevention in farmers.

Financial Impact of Foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks on pig farms in the Republic of Korea, 2014/2015.

The financial impact of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) that occurred in 180 piggeries (100 farrow-to-finish and 80 fattening farms) confirmed infected during the 2014/2015 epidemic in the Republic of Korea was estimated at the farm level. The median loss due to slaughtering of pigs prior to their expected market weights was US$ 71.8 (uncovered compensation-compensation loss) plus US$ 57.3 (foregone net gain) per pig. Median loss per farm was US$ 27,487 (55.6% of total loss) for compensation and US$ 15,925 (44.4%) for foregone net gain. The total loss per farm (median, 25th-75th percentile) was US$ 43,822 (9,767-115,893), which represented 49.4% (11.5-112.8) of the annual net gain of pig farms. The total financial loss in 180 FMD outbreak pig farms was US$ 25.2 million, which was nearly one-half of the control cost (US$ 58.3 million) spent by the Korean government on this epidemic. The findings in this study should help planning to help reduce the impact at the farm level in the Republic of Korea in the future.

Estimation of the Infection Window for the 2010/2011 Korean Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to develop a method for calculating infection time lines for disease outbreaks on farms was developed using the 2010/2011 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in the Republic of Korea. METHODS: Data on farm demography, the detection date of FMD, the clinical history for the manifestation of lesions, the presence of antibodies against FMD virus (including antibodies against the structural and nonstructural proteins of serotype O), vaccination status (O1 Manisa strain), the number of reactors and information on the slaughter of infected animals were utilized in this method. RESULTS: Based on estimates of the most likely infection date, a cumulative detection probability that an infected farm would be identified on a specific day was determined. Peak infection was observed between late December and early January, but peak detection occurred in mid-January. The early detection probability was highest for pigs, followed by cattle (dairy, then beef) and small ruminants. Nearly 90% of the infected pig farms were detected by Day 11 post-infection while 13 days were required for detection for both dairy and beef cattle farms, and 21 days were necessary for small ruminant (goat and deer) farms. On average, 8.1 ± 3.1 days passed prior to detecting the presence of FMD virus on a farm. The interval between infection and detection of FMD was inversely associated with the intensity of farming. CONCLUSION: The results of our study emphasize the importance of intensive clinical inspection, which is the quickest method of detecting FMD infection and minimizing the damage caused by an epidemic.